Impacted Crop?

[Munch]

Hi folks.

Question.......

Am I being paranoid. Yesterday the girls were let out to free range for the first time in a while (many reasons, mainly to do with the fact we had to sort out the fencing as they were doing nextdoors weeding for them)

I noticed a couple of them had enlarged crops..... Thought I would see how they were today. Now one of them has gone down and the other has got bigger, but then looking at all the flock the all seem to be a bit bigger on the right hand side.

Is it because they have been free ranging so therefore just eaten alot in the last couple of days? is it something that I have just never noticed before or is it possible that more than one hen has an impacted crop at the same time ?

[chris]

My black rock's crop is always massive and slightly to the side - she seems fine mind.. they always free range. If I check first time (v.early) in the morning it's gone down and she is normal again - can you check first thing before they get access to eat?

[Suechooks]

You need to check first thing in the morning before they have a chance to eat. Long grass, hay and straw are the favourites for causing this.
Chances are they've been stuffing themselves if they've been fre ranging but do check. If it is an impacted crop you'll know. It feels quite hard and sometimes hot. If it goes on a while they do sometimes stretch their necks upwards to try and clear the discomfort.
My vet recommends 0.5ml liquid paraffin via a syringe followed by massaging the crop in a downward direction to try and move the obstruction. I have had success doing this and also failure as you can read in an earlier post.
Hope they're ok for you.

[Flummery]

If they've been out it may well just be a full crop! Lets hope so.